Neko of the Lizard Clan
by Exeres
Summary: A young monk girl realizes that she isn't exactly what she seems to be after an encounter with an interesting halfdemon. Notice: This story isn't exactly about Inuyasha, but it is in the same place and time.


Disclaimer: I don't own Inuyasha or anything about it, but I wish I did 'cuz I'd be rich.

Author's note: This is my first fic, be gentle with your reviews.

There was a knock at the door of the inner temple, barely perceptible over the loud rain. Ishija Yamada, nearly 13, had been tasked with watching the entrance that night with his older brother of 2 years, Noshija, but it was very late and both had started to doze off. The knocking pulled them away from their pseudo-slumber, and they immediately rose and headed for the door. Ishija was the first to reach the door and, upon opening it, saw two hooded figures running away, kicking up muddy water in their wake.

As Ishija chased after the impossibly quick pair, Noshija looked down and noticed a basket with a bundled cloth and paper umbrella-like roof to keep the cloth dry. "Come back," Noshija yelled for his brother, "they've left something!"

Ishija turned around and trotted back, noticing that Noshija had taken a piece of paper out of the basket, and had turned somewhat pale. "Here," he said, handing Ishija the note.

"_We wanted her to have a better life. Please don't kill her."_

Ishija looked up at Noshija, mimicking his facial expression, a mixture of confusion and curiosity. They both reached for the cloth and, picking slowly at the layers, discovered a baby.

"A baby girl," Noshija clarified. "She couldn't have been born more than a few hours ago." She was very small and had a strange skin color, almost tinted orange.

"Quick, get her inside," Ishija stated, realizing that the rain was still pouring down on them.

Noshija swiftly picked the basket up and hurried inside, closing the door as Ishija made his way in. The brothers lit several candles and placed themselves and the basket near them to stay warm. Ishija still had a quizzical look upon his face. "Why would they bother to specify not killing the child?" he queried. "It's not something one would expect a monk to do."

Noshija thought for a moment. He silently looked at the basket, and then realized that the cloth in which the infant was carefully wrapped still covered a sizeable portion of her head. Lifting it easily, he saw that this child was not normal.

Besides her skin color, which could only be described as yellowish, she had other notable, "interesting," traits. The first and most noticeable were two triangular flaps of skin on the top of her head that were apparently _ears_. Surrounding her ears was a full layer of dark orange hair.

Ishija almost jumped back at this, but managed to keep his composure and looked closer. He slowly opened the young girl's left eye and saw a yellow eye. It was normally dilated until it started adjusting to the candlelight. It shrank, not into a smaller circle, but became a slit, an ovular line cutting the sharp yellow circle in half.

He quickly released the eyelid and instead decided to examine the mouth. Sure enough, after calmly moving the lips, he saw teeth. Not a full mouth, but four very well-defined fangs, two on top and bottom each.

He couldn't believe this. They were both looking down on a demon. A feline half-demon. They both sat in silence as they peered at the newborn.

Finally, Ishija broke the awkward stillness with an even more awkward question. "Should we…

"Should we kill her?"

Noshija sat still with a stern face. It seemed as though they would have to. It was a demon. Demons were evil. Monks were supposed to fight and destroy evil. But this was merely a baby. It had done nothing wrong. At least, not yet.

"This isn't our decision," he finally stated. "We should wake Tsurugi-sama."

Normally the head priest of the temple would have been angry at being woken at such an early hour on a depressingly rainy night. However, his punishment of the Yamada brothers took little priority over a demon report. Indeed, the Yamadas may be rewarded for this.

"Boys, you were right to come to me. This will be a very important and very rare lesson for both of you."

Makeru Tsurugi had been the head priest of the temple for almost 40 years, he had slain well over a hundred demons, and even he had never seen an infant demon. He had seen a demon that ate infants and took their form to fool the unsuspecting mothers, but that was different.

Demons were violent, cruel, often even sadistic, relishing in every human they killed, as if each were a notch in a nonexistent belt. However, this was merely a child, and he had often wondered if demons were evil by upbringing or genetically wicked.

"Boys, you could have easily killed this miniscule creature and nobody would have thought less of you. In reality, they would have praised you. 'One less demon in the world,' they would say. However, you have shown something that most demons are incapable of possessing, something that keeps them brutal and pitiless throughout their lives. You have shown mercy. You have shown compassion. And in doing so, you have proven yourselves above these vile creatures. In fact, you may have proven yourselves above most men. But I'll bet you didn't come here for my praise," he said with a grin. "No, I have a special assignment for you two."

Ishija had a curious look upon his face. "What did you mean by lesson?"

Exeres: There, that wasn't so hard, now was it?

Ishija: Hey, seriously, what did he mean by 'lesson'?

Exeres: I guess you'll have to wait for Chapter 1!

Noshija: God, why do you have to confuse them with that silly Chapter 0 nonsense?

Exeres: Hush, it's tasteful.

I hope you enjoyed the prologue to a hopefully long story. I'll have the next chapter up in no time!


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